Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

HYLLOS AND EURYSTHEUS. 181
the west by a myth relating their triumphant return. Such CHAP.
myths are in fact the germs of those recurring expulsions, and . r J—
those attempted or successful restorations which form what is
commonly called the history of the Herakleidai. The extent
to which an element of actual history may be traced in these
mythical narratives is a question on which something has
been said already, and probably it will not be disputed that
even if many of the names may be those of real local chief-
tains (and some of the incidents may possibly be traditions
of real local events), yet the narratives in their main features
closely resemble the other epical myths with which they are
connected. These stories were altered at will by later poets
and mythographers in accordance with local or tribal preju-
dices or fancies, and forced into arrangements which were
regarded as chronological. Thus, some speak of the Trojan
war as taking place in the interval between the death of
Hyllos and the return of his son Kleodaios ; but the his-
torical character of all these events has been swept away,
and we are left free to reduce the narratives to the simple
elements of which they are composed. Thus the story ran
that when Herakles died, his tyrant and tormentor Eurys-
theus insisted on the surrender of his sons, and that Hyllos,
the son of Deianeira, with his brothers, hastily fled, and after
wandering to many other places at last found a refuge in
Athens. This was only saying in other words that on the
death of the sun the golden hues of evening were soon
banished from the western sky, but that after many weary
hours they are seen again in the country of the Dawn, as
indeed they could be seen nowhere else. Athens is the only
possible refuge for the children of Herakles ; but their ene-
mies will not allow them to slip from their hands without a
struggle. The Gorgon sisters almost seize Perseus as he
hurries away after the slaughter of Medousa; and thus
Eurystheus marches with his hosts against Athens. But
the dawn must discomfit the dark beings. The Athenians
are led on by Theseus, the great solar hero of the land, by
Iolaos, the son of Iphikles, the twin brother of Herakles, and
by the banished Hyllos. Eurystheus is slain, and Hyllos carries
his head to Alkmene.